You'll be looking at the first 18 verses this morning. We live in perhaps the most diagnosed culture ever. Antisocial personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder. I might have a little bit of that. Borderline personality disorder. Dependent personality disorder. Histrionics personality disorder. Anybody ever heard of that one? Narcissistic personality disorder. Paranoid personality disorder. And these are just, I mean, this went on and on and on and on when I looked it up online. This large variety of diagnoses shows that many people, maybe even us, have a difficult time relating to others. But I would say, even further than that, that we also struggle with relating to ourselves and relating to God. And those two things are kin to each other. The truth is, we all have personality disorders to an extent. And you know why? Because we're all sinners. We have the I love myself disorder. I want to control my environment, control others disorder. I've got just a little touch of that. That's why I can't plan the canoe trip. I care too much about what others think disorder, people pleasing disorder, or I don't care anything about what anybody thinks. which is lack of compassion, lack of empathy. We are a relationship mess. I mean, that's just the bottom line. We are a relationship mess. And our only hope is that somebody who is not a relationship mess would want to come down and have a relationship with us and show us how relationships are supposed to be. Well, that brings us to the Gospel of John. Out of the four gospels, this gospel emphasizes, it's not the only one that emphasizes it, but it emphasizes it probably the most, that God desires to have a relationship with his people, and he went to great lengths to establish that relationship. In the first 18 verses, which is referred to as the prologue, you could kind of think of it, I like this idea, somebody said it's like the foyer to the book of John, because there's all kinds of ideas in here. from the book of John. In this prologue, we are introduced to a person, a being. This being is called by John, the Word. The Word is a being who is infinitely far above us, a being who is eternal, a being who is pure, so pure that his being is described as pure light. While we are finite, temporal, limited and we hate the light. But this one, this word, who is so magnificent, does something incredible. He becomes one of us. He dwells among us. And he does this because he desires of all things to have not just a small relationship or a casual relationship with us, but a deep and eternal relationship with us. If you'll look in your bulletin at the end of the order, you'll see that I have three points there. It's a difficult passage to put points to, but I wrestled it into it. So if you like to take notes, like to follow along, you can look at the outline right there. So let's read God's word together in these first 18 verses, the introduction to the Gospel of John. Hear the word of the Lord. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. The word is a name that John uses here to describe Jesus. That's not a secret. We can all see that, we all know that. In these first 18 verses, John is introducing Jesus Christ to us. And before you see Jesus turn water into wine, before you see Jesus have an intimate conversation with the woman at the well, before you see him spending a lot of time with his disciples in half of the book of John, before you see his death, his betrayal, before you see Peter deny him, and before you see the resurrection, John wants you to know exactly who Jesus is, who Jesus was. In the beginning, where does your mind go when you hear the words in the beginning? It should go straight to Genesis 1.1. I heard half of you trying to say it. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, the word. If the Word was with God in the beginning, that means that the Word is both eternal and the Word is uncreated. The Word was with God. Now, when you hear that term with in English, don't think John is saying that the Word was like a tool that God picked up when he made the creation. The more literal way to take the term with here is more of towards or to. And the best way I think to translate the phrase with God here is face to face. The word was face to face to God or towards God for all of eternity. The phrase expresses an intimacy that only the word had with God for all of eternity. Another phrase that might cause Problems in English is when John said the word was God When you think of the word was in English you might begin to think that Jesus was God But then when he became man He did what? He ceased to be God. Yeah, he ceased to be God in The Greek now, I promise this isn't gonna be a whole Sermon on Greek language, but we have talked about it a little bit In the Greek, the way that John structures the phrase, and the word was God, the meaning here is basically that everything that God was, the word was. All of the essence of God was the word. So in this introduction to the gospel, John wants you to know something important about the Messiah. Jesus is God. So how does this divine person, the word, how does he relate to his people in the first five verses here? Well, John says, all things were made through him, and in him was life, and the life was the light of men. God said in the book of Genesis, let there be light, and there was light. In verses four to five of John one, I believe John is trying to take those literal things of creation, the things that Jesus accomplished, and turn them into metaphors that express realities in the spiritual world. The point is that Jesus creates light in the spiritual world too, not just the physical world. The word is now referred to metaphorically as light, And we know that light is a major theme of the whole book of John. We're probably familiar with Jesus' statement when he says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. The light created in the beginning when Jesus created all things revealed the world It brought warmth to the world, it created growth, it nurtured, it sustained mankind. But John wants us to see that the light of Jesus also creates and causes these things in the spiritual world. Jesus, as the light, exposes spiritual realities to us just as the creation light exposed material realities to us. And Jesus relates to us like an honest friend who will faithfully expose those spiritual things to you, things that you might love that might destroy you. Jesus is shining light in the spiritual world and he's saying, look here, there's that thing you should avoid. Don't go here, don't go there. In doing this, Jesus overcomes the darkness. He shines light into the spiritual world and overcomes darkness so that we can see what is right. And this brings us to our second point. The word reveals truth to us. John says, beginning in verse six, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. There was a man, John says. It's not John the Apostle, this is John the Baptist. I'm just mentioning him here because he's mentioned in this first section, but I'm not gonna talk much about John because he is a main focus in the next section. So just know that John is a witness. He came to bear witness about the light. He's not the apostle, but he is the herald of the Messiah who comes before the Messiah. Now, if you look down at verse nine, you'll see the activity of the light coming back around into John's thinking. The light enlightens everyone. And the question is, how should we take this? What does it mean that the light enlightens everyone? Well, it could mean, simply, it could mean that everyone is saved, right? Because the light spiritually regenerates everyone, redemptively shines in their hearts, and everyone is saved. But why can't we take that meaning? Well, it's because even in this text, we're gonna see people are gonna reject the light and they're gonna be facing condemnation. We might wanna say this is redemptive light, but everyone doesn't mean everyone. And those of you who don't know Greek well might be scratching your head going, how does everyone not mean everyone? Well, in the Greek, the word for all or every or many is the word pas, and it can be a limited term. It can actually mean all of a certain group or all of certain ones. But I don't believe that's the way this should be taken here either. I believe the context of verses 9 to 13 lend themselves more to taking in Latin in a non-salvation, non-redemptive way. So the enlightening going on here is an exposing, but it's not a salvation enlightening. And it is something that happens to everyone. I'm going to quote my favorite theologian. I told Mike I was going to quote him here. And he said, you don't quote somebody if you can say it better. But that's what he told Kyle too. Mike said in his sermon on this, I just like the way he said this, I think it is best to understand enlighten in a looser, much more ambiguous way, the way in which Jesus enlightens people can be somewhat varied. And I believe John is being purposefully ambiguous. And I think Mike's right about this. I think John is trying to be ambiguous here. He's not putting one particular thing on enlightened. It can mean a spectrum of things. And so I'm gonna talk about at least two things that it can mean to be enlightened. First, Everyone has an amount of truth. All truth that is revealed is revealed because Jesus reveals it, whether you're saved or not. Scientists, doctors, anybody had a surgery from a doctor who was an unbeliever? Well, they still know what they're doing, they still have a lot, they still know truth. They know things as image bearers, but also because the ongoing revealing of truth by Jesus Christ, the light. But there's not just truth in the scientific intellectual realm, there's also truth in the moral realm. Pagans can love their wives. Pagans can be good to their children. Pagans can, in a sense, care about their neighbors and their society and their culture. How many God-rejecting men and unbelieving women have sacrificed their lives for the greater good in wars, as firefighters, as police officers? These people, even though they're not believers, understand there is a moral virtue to sacrificing oneself for others. And this is light that comes from Jesus. So Jesus enlightens every man with a level of truth and morality. Second, I believe everyone has the light of knowledge of God in them. And it's a light that Paul says that men and women suppress. A light that is suppressed. Probably familiar with Romans 1. In Romans 1, Paul teaches that what can be known about God is plain. People understand in their hearts that there are invisible things. There's a spiritual world. And even the unrighteous and ungodly know that there's a God. They see the world. They are in all the vastness of the universe. They consider their mortality. Your dog's not sitting around thinking about its mortality. I mean, I've got a dog that has a strange personality, but he is not thinking about his mortality. They have a conscience, and that conscience reflects the fact that there is a truth. Whether I'm accepting it or not, there's a truth that's above me. And even though I might not say it in my heart, in my actions, I act like there is a truth. Unbelievers can even feel shame. for their sins. It's always fascinating to me, how many of you have heard of Neil deGrasse Tyson? Yeah, Neil deGrasse Tyson, I like watching black universe shows. But Neil deGrasse Tyson, he's a famous atheist and an astrophysicist. And I love seeing this man try to explain how man has purpose. It's so funny to watch him do these gymnastics. So he has this theory where he says, think of all the people who could have existed, but you existed. There's your purpose. I mean, who cares? But when Tyson does this, he's at least recognizing the light of God in him that is limited He's recognizing that it is immoral to say that man is just an animal that's purposeless, that existence doesn't matter. He's not going to win many converts that way. And so he is showing that he understands the virtue of purpose, even though it does not fit into his worldview, because he believes everything's going to explode or implode. I can't remember exactly. We're all to return to material, and what does that matter? And then it all starts all over again. Sadly, this type of light is not the kind of light that creates the new birth. Jesus, the light, came to the world, and John says the world did not know him, and his own people His own people who had the oracles of God in the old covenant did not receive him. The Jews did not receive him, they rejected him. Jesus reveals truth to us, but often that truth is like shining a flashlight into the eyes of a blind man. There's nothing there to receive that truth. The light of truth shines on the hard, blind heart of the Jews but they cannot see it. And even worse, they can't see it, but they hate it. Jesus says in John chapter three, verse 18, whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God. And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light. lest his works should be exposed. Sadly for some, all that this enlightening does is increase condemnation because they have truth right in front of them and they reject it. But, thankfully there's a but here, but the text goes on to say that the light does create in those who believe. those who he gave the right to become children of God. Now, it's a Presbyterian church, so we're gonna talk about God's sovereignty and salvation here. There is a common grace that's given to all of creation. We talked about that. There's an enlightening that is for everyone. But only those who are given the right to become children of God receive the special grace, the creating grace. Now you might say, if you wanted to argue, I'm creating a pretend person who's arguing against me here. You might say, when you look at this text, that, well, they receive, and then they believe, and then God gives them the right to become children of God, right? Does that make sense? So you believe, and then you've earned the right to become a child of God, Being a child of God is based upon the faith that you expressed. Well, the rest of this text doesn't allow for that. Because John goes on to tell you how you were not born. The first thing he says is that you were not born of blood. Now what that means is that your covenant family ties do not guarantee you the right to be a child of God. And Jesus confronts this way of thinking in chapter eight. The Jews say to Jesus, Abraham is our father. And Jesus said, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. If you are the physical child of Abraham, and Abraham was a great man, he's kind of thought of as the father of faith. But if you are a descendant of Abraham, His bloodline does not pass faith down to you. The new birth is granted. It's not inherited from your family. John also says that the new birth is not of the will of the flesh. It's not of the will of man. There is not something in you that is better than those who don't receive Christ that earns you the right. to be a child of God. And John says it all when he says that this birth, this new birth, is of God. Your salvation is 100% the work of God. If salvation were up to us, we would have no hope. Because we don't produce righteousness, we produce hatred of the light. The power of God overcame darkness for us. The power of God revealed truth to us. And the power of God became flesh for us. And that brings us to our third point. Look at verse 14. John says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. He has made him known. When I think about this section of The Word Becoming Flesh, this is a little comical, so please don't take this as being irreverent. But I can't help but think of the Disney animated movie Aladdin, the old one, with Robin Williams in it. And you remember the thing that Robin Williams, the genie character says, that the genie is phenomenal cosmic power in what? in an itty bitty living space. All this power in an itty bitty living space. And I think the church is so familiar with the concept of the incarnation. I mean, we talk about it and celebrate it at least once a year. That when we're reading through John, we come to this verse 14, it doesn't hit us the way that I think it should. The word, the eternal person who is everything that God is, who created all things, who gives both physical and spiritual life, the one who is all truth, became what you are, took on flesh, became a human. John Calvin says, Christ, when he became man, did not cease to be what he formerly was, and that no change took place in that eternal essence of God which was clothed with flesh. In short, the Son of God began to be man in such a manner that he still continues to be the eternal word who had no beginning in time. Wrap your mind around that. Everything that God was never ceased to be everything that God was in human flesh. It's hard to fathom. And John goes on to say that he dwelt among us. Now some of you might know what that word really means, the dwelling word. It means that he tabernacled with us. Have you heard that term before? He tabernacled with us. And when you hear that word, it should conjure up in your mind images of the Old Testament. When the glory of God filled the tabernacle, when the glory of God filled the temple in the Old Testament, those were foreshadows. of the incarnation of Christ, when all the fullness of the glory of God would dwell in a man and dwell among us. And here in verse 14, John adds a description of the word that we have not seen yet, but one that we probably are all familiar with. He is the only son from the father. Some versions, if you have King James, it probably says only begotten son. Now there is a beginning, concept to this term. There is a sense in which it said that the son was eternally begotten of the father. But the term actually emphasizes more of a uniqueness about the sonship of Christ. His sonship is different. And we've already seen in the book of John that there's a sense in which we are all children of God. So we are given the right to become children of God. But Jesus is not a child of God like we are. He's unique. And it's because he is everything that God is. He's the perfect image of the Father. So much so that John says in verse 18 that Jesus makes the Father known to us. Is it Thomas, I think, later on in John that says, show us the Father, and Jesus says, have you been with me so long that you don't know the Father? There is a oneness in the Trinity that we don't completely have and that we can't understand. So God becomes flesh and John the Baptist and the disciples witnessed the glory. Now, let's talk about this fun verse, verse 17. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. Now, of course, John is saying here that the law is bad and Jesus is good, right? Just make sure you're awake here. The law, Old Testament, bad, New Testament, good, right? No, that's not what he's saying. Without the law, we don't know that we need grace. Paul teaches this in Romans 7. He says, if it had not been for the law, I wouldn't have known that I was a sinner. A.W. Pink says about this passage, law manifested what was in man. Sin. I like that. Law manifests to us what's in man. Sin, depravity, fallen. But grace manifested what was in God. Love, compassion, mercy. There is a way that law and grace work together, but I think we can also take what John's saying here a step further and make it even simpler. There is no grace and no truth in the law of Moses if you remove Jesus. No grace, no truth in all the Mosaic law if you take Jesus out of it. The deliverer Moses, great man, rescued God's people from slavery, loses grace and truth if he is not a foreshadow of the true deliverer, Jesus Christ. The sacrifices, the offerings in the Mosaic ceremonies, they lose all grace and they lose all truth. They mean nothing if they aren't pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The law is a teacher, and even the Ten Commandments are meant to teach us that we need Christ. And in the book of John, we're gonna see a lot of Jews who think they know the law, but by rejecting Christ, they rejected the grace and the truth that God always meant for them to discover in that law. And part of the grace and truth provided in Christ is that he is God, and he has seen God, and he makes God known to us. And the law doesn't do that by itself. All of the Old Testament was God's gradual revealing of his plan to develop a relationship between himself and us through the person of Jesus Christ. And the law has no truth and no grace if it's not working its way to that ultimate goal. And the relationship is impossible if God does not come down, if God does not lower himself down to us, if God doesn't seek relationship with us. and become one of us and live perfect for us and die for the wrath that we deserve. Now, in conclusion, the first question that has to be asked is this, are you suppressing the truth that the light of Jesus is exposing all around you? Do you love darkness? Have you fooled yourself into believing that there are intellectual reasons as to why you cannot believe the Bible and why you cannot follow Jesus Christ? Those excuses are lies from the devil. If you will not come to the light, it's not for an intellectual reason, it's because you love the darkness. But the good news is that Jesus Christ overcame the darkness. He shines light into the darkness. Do you feel shame? Do you think you have no worth? Do you think you have no value? Do you think that if others know who I really am, they will never love me? They will never want a relationship with me. That's also a lie. Jesus created you. Jesus knows your personality and he understands you better and more intimately than you know yourself. And he still left his father's side. Think about that. Think about the mess that you know in your heart that you are and others don't. But Jesus still left the glories of heaven. He was still willing to come down. live in the dirt, hunger, thirst, in a time where there was no air conditioning, a time when there was no McDonald's, a time where worship still involved killing animals, where he had to walk on dirt, wash other people's feet. He left the glories of heaven so that he could come down and have a relationship with you and he knows everything that's in your heart. He wants to understand you in a personal way. So don't ever say that God doesn't understand me because he did everything possible to make a way to understand you. And the beautiful thing is this. You don't have to wait until you get to heaven to have Jesus with flesh on it. to have a relationship with you and to love you. Christ is in people everywhere around you. He's in these chairs in this room. He's in your workplace. He's in your schools. He can love you through them. And he puts people in your life to do that. Now we cannot love you as perfectly as he can. But if you are seeking Christ, if you are desiring to put away sin, the people of God will meet you right where you are, and they will try their best to show you the love of your Savior. In that way, we are all a type of the ongoing incarnation of Christ. So, a relationship with God for you through the word who became flesh, the one who walks with you closer than a brother, the one who will never leave you nor forsake you. Don't let the world fool you into believing that there is any gift that is more important than that gift. And don't give this gift up for anything in this world. God wants a relationship with you. Amen.